A user equipment (UE) may establish a connection to a wireless communications network via a base station (e.g., an eNodeB (eNB) in Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks). To properly be prepared for demodulating transmitted signals (i.e., received signals), the UE must be configured with proper settings. Specifically, properties related to the physical layer of the transceiver used to connect to the network must be known. For example, the channel (e.g., band of frequencies) must be known for the incoming signal in order for it to be properly received. While connected to the network, reference symbols are transmitted from a base station of the network to the UE. The reference symbols may be used as a basis for calculating a variety of wireless properties, in particular, for channel estimation.
Channel estimation may be derived based upon the reference symbols in both a frequency domain and a time domain for demodulating the received downlink data symbols. Channel estimation benefits from increased information to more fully define the estimate. That is, when more reference symbols in the frequency and time domain are used, the channel estimation may be improved in frequency selection and time-varying wireless channels, respectively. Channel estimates from individual reference symbol resource elements may be inputs to properly designed filters to derive the channel estimation for data symbols as well as averaging down the impact of noise.
Although the increased use of reference symbols provides improved channel estimation, those skilled in the art will understand that increased processing and receiving of these reference symbols require increased power consumption. For example, when further reference symbols are used, the receiver is required to be activated to receive these further reference symbols. In another example, when further reference symbols are received, the processor is required to perform operations on these further reference symbols. Thus, the benefits of improved channel estimation are balanced against increased power consumption.